Bayern Munich v Manchester United: live

30 Mar 2010 17:41:30

Half time: Bayern Munich 0-1 Manchester United
20.47 We're under way again in the second half. United are 45 minutes away from a famous victory here. Well, 45 minutes plus injury time, as Bayern will only too readily remind them.
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45+1 min And there it is. What an absorbing half of football. Bayern have been the better side, but ultimately the half turned on two moments. Rooney had a simple chance in the second minute, Olic had another on 27 minutes. Rooney scored. Olic didn't.
45 min There will be one minute of stoppage time.
44 min Left-footed volley from Carrick. Jorg Butt saves.
From Duncan White in Munich: While Bayern still look fragile at the back, they have improved as an attacking force throughout the half. United haven't helped themselves, though, with Carrick, Park and Scholes all getting themselves caught in possession. Darren Fletcher is the most impressive player on the pitch so far - his breaks from midfield are too powerful for Bayern to deal with.
42 min Nani gets some boos as he dawdles over to take the corner, which is headed away.
41 min Whatever scoreline you picked in the office sweepstake, you have the right to feel hard done by. It could easily be 2-0 to United, 3-1 to Bayern, five-all. Anything. Park lays it off to Carrick, who picks his spot but sees his shot blocked behind for United's first corner.
39 min Free-kick from the Bayern right. Badstuber swings it in with pace and dip. Neville gets a crucial header away.
37 min Can Demechelis actually see the ball through that mask? Fletcher crosses from the left and it goes straight under his foot, where Rooney simply must score from six yards. It's saved. Demechelis may look like a superhero with that facemask on, but if he's got any superhero power at the moment, it's invisibility.
35 min Do keep your comments coming in. "YAWN", says Keith Munro. If you're tired, Keith, you should probably get some sleep. Long day tomorrow, can't be staying up following live football text commentaries past your bedtime...
33 min United can barely keep the ball in midfield at the moment. Nani is lucky when he loses the ball in his own half but wins a free-kick against Badstuber. A long shot from Pranjic is on target, and fumbled by Van der Sar.
31 min Incredibly, Bayern haven't gone past the quarter-finals in nine years. United, meanwhile, have reached the semi-finals three years running. Meanwhile, Bastos has put Lyon 2-1 up against Bordeaux. This is shaping up to be a classic night of European football.
From Duncan White in Munich: You can see why Ferguson has decided to play Park Ji-Sung on the left and Nani on the right. Park is diligently tracking Bayern right-back Philipp Lahm, one of the best attacking full backs in Europe. On the other flank Nani's pace is just too much for Badstuber. The one worry for United is that Gary Neville could get isolated by Franck Ribery. Bayern are playing Thomas Muller as a second striker but Carrick is doing a fine job of sticking to him - after the succes Park had marking Pirlo in the last round Ferguson obviously wants the 'spare' man tracked.
27 min What a chance for Bayern to equalise: boxed-up, gift-wrapped and left on their doorstep courtesy of Interflora. Ribery crosses from the left, Van der Sar palms it away, it comes back in and Olic, unmarked four yards out, somehow manages to put it wide.
25 min Meanwhile in Lyon, there have been two goals in the first 15 minutes. Lisandro Lopez for Lyon, Marouane Chamakh for Bordeaux, One-all.
23 min Early goal aside, Bayern have been by far the better team. Ribery puts an inviting ball through, but Altintop can't control it.
20 min Best opportunity for Bayern so far, a shot from Van Bommel deflecting awkwardly for Van der Sar. At the other end, Nani sends a cross over that lands on top of the bar.
16 min Chance for Nani, who dances through a Bayern defence but shoots just wide with his left foot.
14 min Bayern have recovered fairly well, their midfield two largely winning the midfield battle against United's three. Rooney gets the opportunity to break, but his shot is blocked.
From Duncan White in Munich: Despite the terrific atmosphere here in the Arena, the Bayern team look plain nervous. Three basic errors inside 67 seconds and they are behind. Holger Badstuber misjudges a simple header from Michael Carrick's optimistic channel ball; Martin Demichelis sluggishly and sloppily allows Nani to win a free kick by the right-corner flag; collectively Bayern fail to deal what really wasn't a very threatening free-kick from Nani, gifting Rooney the goal.
12 min Ooh, chance for Bayern! Not really Demechelis's night so far, is it? Corner from Altintop, and perhaps Demechelis doesn't expect the ball to come all the way through to the far post. But it does, and his header is well wide.
10 min First moment of real promise for Bayern. Olic surges down the left and tries to turn inside Fletcher, but he's not quite canny enough to beat the Scot. United clear.
7 min Ever wondered what 65,000 shocked Germans look like? The only noise is being made by the United fans, and to be honest, Bayern look stunned. They're playing like they've got a telephone call waiting on the other line. Lahm puts the first decent cross in and it's deflected behind. But Frank De Bleeckere points for a goal kick.
5 min Well, that's set things nicely alight. Scholes has a shot from long range that goes over.
2 min Right, who predicted 0-0? It's a nightmare for Demichelis, who's wearing a frankly ridiculous-looking mask tonight. Firstly he gives away a silly free-kick on the Manchester United right. Nani takes it, it flicks off a Bayern head and Demichelis slips in the penalty area, leaving Wayne Rooney free to volley home.
GOAL Bayern Munich 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney)
19.45 United to kick us off. Here we go.
19.42 Manchester United appear to be bedecked in a new kit. White shirts, blue shorts. "I want one," a million Japanese children are saying to their parents at this very moment. Bayern all in red as the teams come out.
19.38 As a devoted neutral, I'll be happy simply if our Wayne emerges unscathed. I'm sure I'm not the only person who lies awake at night fretting on Rooney's fitness, although I understand I'm in something of a minority as far as the candles and chanting go. It wouldn't be monumentally out of character for Fergie to place some sort of timed incendiary device inside Rooney's ankle that is primed to detonate the minute the whistle blows for full-time in the Champions League final.
Henry Winter on Twitter: "'Hate Glazer' banner hanging in middle of Bayern Munich sitting/standing area"
19.20 Sky are using The Smiths' 'Hand In Glove' to soundtrack a piece about Wayne Rooney. I think it's safe to conclude Morrissey no longer owns the rights to that song, then.
19.19 So, here's a number for you: 17. No, it's not the average number of strides Dimitar Berbatov makes in a game. Or the number of friends Franck Ribery has on Facebook. It's the number of away games United have played in the Champions League since they last lost. The last team to beat United at home was AC Milan, who won 3-0 at the San Siro in May 2007. And we all remember what happened the last time Manchester United were in Germany, don't we? No, not this, this.
Bayern Munich (4-4-2): Butt; Lahm, Van Buyten, Demichelis, Badstuber; Altintop, Van Bommel, Pranjic, Ribery; Muller, Olic. Subs: Rensing, Gorlitz, Klose, Contento, Alaba, Gomez, Tymoschuk.
Man Utd (4-5-1): Van der Sar; Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Nani, Park; Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Berbatov, Giggs, Rafael Da Silva, Jonathan Evans, Valencia, Gibson.
19.06 Teams are in. Arjen Robben doesn't even make the Bayern Munich bench. Ribery starts, though, as do Nani and Park. Luis Valencia is on the bench, along with Berbatov and Giggs.
18.35 What do people reckon would be a good result for United, then? Ferguson would probably take a score draw, but as he told us this morning, he won't be satisfied with 0-0. With the likes of Rooney, Nani, Klose and Olic on the pitch, though, I'd say that was pretty unlikely anyway.
Henry Winter on Twitter: "Great stadium. Sensational looking, fans close to the pitch, steeper rake than Wembley so more noise. United shirts in Bayern areas."
18.23 We'll have the team news as soon as we get it. There's another game going on tonight, of course: Lyon v Bordeaux, with the winners over two legs playing the winners of this tie.
Henry Winter on Twitter: "Easy to tell when you're in a German stadium...Heavy metal music pumping out. It's Europe, it's the quarter-final countdown."
17.40 Still a couple of hours to go until kick-off, but in the meantime, if you've got any predictions for tonight's game, do use the comment form below to vent your steaming head of analysis. And to stir you into an even frothier state of agitation, you can read our match preview and other assorted nuggets.
Read the match preview
Rooney is 'carrying' United, says a slightly catty Franck Ribery
Ji-Sung Park, who is definitely not 'carrying' United, warns of Bayern threat
17.30 Welcome to tonight's Champions League live blog. It's Bayern Munich against Manchester United, but we'll try not to mention that night in Barcelona.